GRAVE LESSONS

June Sawyers. Special to the TribuneCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Cemeteries have strange effects on people. Some find them morbid, disturbing places and wouldn't--pardon the pun--be caught dead in them. Others appreciate the rich and often neglected heritage that lurks behind the ominous walls. You can learn a lot about a country and about a society by spending some time in its cemeteries.

Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall have done just that in various locations around the world. Photojournalists from New York and the authors of "Permanent Parisians," they have spent a great deal of their time walking among shades.

Their latest work on the cemetery theme, "Permanent Italians" (Walker and Company; $16.95), is an illustrated and biographical guide to the famous Italians and non-Italians who have made Italy their final resting place.

Some of the best known "permanent" Italians that the authors discuss include Dante, Marco Polo, Fellini, St. Francis of Assisi, Galileo, Nero, Puccini and Verdi as well as such prominent non-Italians as John Keats, Elizabeth Barret Browning and the tragic Bonnie Prince Charlie--the latter is buried at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Until 1738, the authors tell us, only Roman Catholics were allowed to be buried in Rome proper. Protestants and other "infidels" were transported to another site some 160 miles away or buried with prostitutes. It is here in this Protestant Cemetery where Keats lies. Also here are the ashes of Keats' fellow English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Travel literature series

Lonely Planet announces the publication of a new travel literature series. Journeys is the work of international writers with original titles and translations of existing works.

Four books inaugurate the series: "The Gates of Damascus" by Lieve Joris is a day-to-day portrait of life in post-Gulf war Syria; "Islands in the Clouds" by Isabella Tree is set in the remote Highlands of New Guinea; and "Sean & David's Long Drive" by Sean Condon, wherein two twenty-something cocky Australians set out to "discover" their homeland with often very humorous results.

The most intriguing of the titles is "Lost Japan" by Alex Kerr, a highly personal account of Japan by an American who has lived there for more than 30 years. Written originally in Japanese, it won the 1994 Shincho Gakugei Prize for best nonfiction. Kerr was the first foreigner to win this prestigious award.

Each title is $10.95.

Home away from home

Would you like to spend a month on the French Riviera for close to nothing? Impossible, right?

Not according to Bill and Mary Barbour, authors of "Home Exchange Vacationing: Your Free Accommodations" (Rutledge Hill Press; $14.95). The Barbours say you can spend quality time--and plenty of it--in your dream spot by simply swapping homes; that is, exchanging the key to your house for the key to another house.

Such a concept, the authors freely admit, is not for everyone. The authors, who have had plenty of experience with the home-swapping concept, tell you how to find other home exchangers and they're especially diligent about discussing such practical but sensitive details as liability and medical insurance, how to be a good guest in a stranger's house and the best way to get in touch with other home swappers. They share plenty of telling anecdotes and exchange first-hand stories from home swappers around the world.

The photographer's eye

Lisl Dennis is one of the best known and most accomplished travel photographers in the business. In "The Traveler's Eye: A Guide to Still and Video Travel Photography" (Clarkson Potter; $40), a sumptuous visual feast all by itself, she shares the accumulation of some 30 years travel experiences. As co-founder of the Travel Photography Workshop in Santa Fe, Dennis' goal at her studio and in her book is to help the photographer "translate experience and feeling onto film."

Although the price tag is a bit hefty, for $40 you do get some expert advice and some really stunning photographs.